War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has said that his group’s disarmament was unacceptable and amounted to “annihilation”, as Lebanon prepares for a new round of direct talks with Israel in Washington early next month, AFP reports.

“Disarmament means stripping Lebanon of its defensive capability and the capability of the resistance (Hezbollah) and [these] people, paving the way for annihilation,” he said in a televised address, adding: “Disarmament is annihilation and we cannot accept it.”

A state monopoly on weapons demanded by Lebanese authorities, “at this stage, is aimed at targeting the resistance and is an Israeli project”, he added.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi has met Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi in the Omani capital, Muscat, Al Jazeera reports.

Gharibabadi delivered “a verbal message” from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the official Oman News Agency reported.

They also discussed the Pakistani-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington and “the commitment of both countries to resuming freedom of navigation”.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has said that managing the Strait of Hormuz was Tehran’s “legal right” in order to ensure national security, Reuters reports.

“Iran’s management of Hormuz Strait ends 50 years of insecurity in the Persian Gulf,” Iranian news agencies quoted Rezaei as saying.

Lebanon’s health ministry has said that an Israeli strike the previous day in the country’s south killed 11 people, including six women and a child, despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, AFP reports.

“The Israeli enemy strike on the town of Sir al-Gharbiyeh in the Nabatieh district resulted in a massacre whose final toll is 11 dead, including a child and six women, and nine wounded, including four children and a woman,” the ministry said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he and US President Donald Trump had agreed that any final deal with Iran must fully end the Islamic Republic’s “nuclear threat,” AFP reports.

“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely. This means dismantling Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and removing enriched nuclear material from its territory,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to a conversation between the two leaders on Saturday night.

He also thanked “all of the countries of the Middle East for their support and cooperation, which will be further enhanced and strengthened by their joining the Nations of the historic Abraham Accords”.

The US president went on to say that “who knows, perhaps the Islamic Republic of Iran would like to join, as well!”

The US president also says that negotiations with Iran are proceeding in an “orderly and constructive manner”.

He, however, added that he had “informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side”.

“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!

“Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” he said.

US President Donald Trump claims that the deal his administration is negotiating with Iran would yield results that are “the exact opposite” of the deal made by the Obama administration.

“One of the worst deals ever made by our Country was the Iran Nuclear Deal, put forth and signed into existence by Barack Hussein Obama and the rank amateurs of the Obama Administration. It was a direct path to Iran developing a Nuclear Weapon.

“Not so with the transaction currently being negotiated with Iran by the Trump Administration - THE EXACT OPPOSITE, in fact!” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US President Donald Trump Israel would remain free to act against threats in Lebanon during a phone call about an emerging agreement between Washington and Iran on Saturday, an Israeli source says, according to Reuters.

“In last night’s conversation with president Trump, the prime minister emphasised that Israel will maintain freedom of action against threats in all arenas, including Lebanon, and president Trump reiterated and supported this principle,” the Israeli political source told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The United States and Iran appear closer than ever to a deal that would end a war that has engulfed the Middle East and disrupted the global oil market.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the world might “get some good news” soon after President Donald Trump announced an agreement had been “largely negotiated” and would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Before Trump’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei spoke of “a trend towards rapprochement” with Washington, but warned that “it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues.” He said on state television that Iran’s “intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement,” before a final deal is reached within 30 to 60 days.

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33 ships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the last 24 hours after obtaining permission from Iran, the IRGC Navy says, according to the Fars news agency.

“In the past day, 33 ships, including oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels, crossed the Strait of Hormuz after obtaining permission, with coordination and security provided by the IRGC Navy,” Fars reported the IRGC as saying.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons, as negotiations with the US on Iran’s nuclear programme continue, Al Jazeera reports.

“We are ready to reassure the world that we are not seeking nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said, according to local media reports.

But he emphasised that Iran’s negotiating team “will not compromise” when it comes to its “honour and dignity”.

Israel’s military has warned the residents of around a dozen villages in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate their homes ahead of expected strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets, reports AFP.

“For your safety, we urge you to immediately move at least 1,000 metres away from the areas mentioned,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X, listing the names of the villages.

A Bahraini court has sentenced nine defendants to life in prison and two others to three years in jail for collaborating with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out what it described as “hostile and terrorist acts” against Bahrain, Reuters reports, citing the state news agency.

The defendants were involved in gathering information on sensitive sites and facilitating related financial transfers, the statement said.

India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says it is up to the US to decide its partners when asked about Pakistan’s role as a mediator between the US and Iran, AFP reports.

However, he acknowledged that differences will emerge between the two countries.

“The Trump administration has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as America First,” Jaishankar said.

“We have a view of India First,” he said.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman has said, “If even a one-page framework agreement to end the war in the Gulf emerges out of Pakistan’s complex, multilayered, persistent and intense mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran, it is fair to say that Islamabad made the impossible possible.”

She added: “Peace is not a dream, clearly.”

The Iranian army has downed an Israeli spying and surveillance drone in the Hormozgan province, Iran’s Mehr news agency reports, according to AFP.

The wreckage of a shattered Orbiter drone, an Israeli product, was discovered in cooperation with Iranian naval forces, the agency said.

Despite the ongoing positive developments in the US-Iran negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of sponsoring ‘terrorism’ across the world, according to Al Jazeera.

“No nation on earth sponsors more terrorism than Iran,” Rubio said at a news conference in New Delhi.

He alleged that Iran invests in sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas.

“The world’s leading sponsor of terrorism is Iran. Look at what they are doing now. They are holding hostage civilian vessels. … They’ve laid mines in an international waterway,” he said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has welcomed “progress towards an agreement between the US and Iran” to end the Middle East war, as American officials said a deal could be announced soon, AFP reports.

“We need a deal that truly de-escalates the conflict, reopens the Strait of Hormuz and guarantees toll free full freedom of navigation. Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” the European Commission president posted online.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has issued its statement on Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s phone call with Trump and other regional leaders.

“During the call, the leaders reviewed the latest regional developments, expressing deep appreciation for President Trump’s leadership and his commitment to consultation and coordination with regional leaders,” the statement said.

The leaders also acknowledged “mediation efforts led by” Pakistan and the “endeavours” of Qatar, saying they were aimed at “reaching an agreement to halt escalation and bolster regional security and stability”.

As news of a potential deal between Tehran and Washington emerges, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports that a disagreement over two or three clauses persists, according to Al Jazeera.

A source in Iran with knowledge of the deal told Tasnim that if the US continues creating obstacles, there will be “no possibility of finalising the memorandum of understanding”.

India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar has spoken alongside Rubio at a news conference in New Delhi.

The Indian view on the Strait of Hormuz crisis is that energy markets should be left to the markets, Jaishankar was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.

India will continue to diversify its energy sources at reasonable prices, he added.

At least one person has been killed and two people injured in an Israeli attack on the municipality of Bazouriyeh in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports, citing the National News Agency (NNA).

Separately, an overnight Israeli air strike targeted a house in the town of Toura, also in the Tyre district, resulting in one death and two injuries, NNA said.